Briton, Lynne Spalding, Found Dead In San Francisco Hospital Stairwell

PA

A British woman has been found dead in a hospital stairwell in America, more than two weeks after going missing.

Lynne Spalding, 57, disappeared from her room at San Francisco General Hospital over a fortnight ago after being admitted with an infection.

Lynne Spalding

Officials said they are investigating how she got on to the outside stairwell and what caused her death.

David Perry, a friend of Ms Spalding, said the incident has been a "nightmare" for her family, and demanded answers.

He said her friends and relatives spent days scouring the streets of the California city with flyers because they were "under the assumption that San Francisco General had been searched and Lynne was not here".

"Lynne Spalding died alone, in the stairwell, at one of the finest medical institutions in this country," he said.

"I hear that the San Francisco Sheriff's Department initiated a search. Well, evidently it wasn't a very good one. I think there are a lot of questions to be asked."